EU Leadership Resigns Amid Fraud, Corruption Allegations

BRUSSELS —  The chief executive of the European Union and 19 other senior officials abruptly resigned early today after an investigative panel alleged cronyism and financial irregularities in their ranks.

The resignations marked the first time in the group’s 42-year history that the European Commission, which runs the day-to-day affairs of the powerful trading bloc, has stepped down under fire.

Franz Fischler, the EU’s agriculture commissioner, said the report, issued Monday, had created a climate in which the EU executive could not remain in office.

“All the commissioners have resigned. We will prepare a statement to explain the reasons for our resignation,” Fischler told reporters after an emergency session of the commission. “It is better than to continue in such uncertainty.”

The report said fraud and corruption pass “unnoticed” at the top of the institution that represents the EU in international trade negotiations as well as drafts laws and enforces them.

Commission President Jacques Santer confirmed his resignation along with the 19 others and said he planned to meet today with Jose-Maria Gil Robles, the president of the 626-member European Parliament, which instigated the fraud inquiry in January.

The commissioners were expected to stay in office in a caretaker capacity. There was no word on when a new commission might be sworn in.

Monday’s 144-page report by five independent experts stemmed from testimony in the European Parliament in December by a Dutch EU auditor who complained about the failure of the commission to eradicate fraud.

The report said that commissioners had put friends and relatives on their payroll and had pleaded ignorance when asked why they did not act sooner to stop problems.

The BBC reported today that Britain will seek the reappointment of two British commissioners. It quoted a government statement as saying there was no evidence to implicate Leon Brittan, a commission vice president, and Neil Kinnock, responsible for transport policy, in any wrongdoing.